The Bordeaux Betrayal: A Wine Country Mystery (Wine Country Mysteries) by Ellen Crosby

Author:Ellen Crosby [Crosby, Ellen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2011-01-16T23:36:18.254000+00:00

"I'm sure we wil ." Nicole turned the smile to me but her eyes said to keep out of her business with Quinn. "Ready?" she asked him.

He nodded and I wished I hadn't decided to come by here after al . "One thing before you go," I said.

Her delicate eyebrows arched. "What's that?"

"I'm surprised Shane didn't tel you Jack withdrew the Washington bottle yesterday. He wants it returned to his private col ection."

I caught the flash of surprise in her eyes. "Of course he told me. The bottle's stil here, so where else would I go to look at it?"

She'd come up with that retort fast enough, but she was lying. Either Shane knew about the wine and kept it from her, or Jack hadn't told Shane. I wondered which it was. So, probably, did she.

Quinn looked at both of us. His eyes were hard and I watched Nicole belatedly realize her error. "So how come neither of you ladies bothered to tel me?"

"Because Nicole didn't know and I only found out late yesterday." Maybe it was churlish to expose her, but it had been a dumb lie. Now maybe Quinn would think twice about believing what she'd just told him in the back of the barrel room. I said, "And you and I didn't get much chance to talk yesterday."

The shouting match in my office seemed like it had been a week ago, rather than less than twenty-four hours.

"No," he said, "we didn't, did we?" He looked at Nicole and hooked a thumb at me. "She right?"

She nodded like a child caught lying to a parent, but sure of forgiveness. "When are you returning the bottle?" she asked me.

"We're trying to get Jack to reconsider, so it's up in the air." I had no intention of helping her plan her strategy for going straight to him so she could buy it.

"He won't reconsider. Get real." Nicole didn't bother to hide her scorn.

I wondered how I'd ever thought of her as fragile. Maybe that mistake was part of the reason she was so successful. People underestimated her and figured she was spun sugar instead of battery acid.

"The money was supposed to go to charity," I said.

Her shrug said who cared. "Things happen. That bottle is priceless."

"I heard you've got a client who told you not to leave here without it."

She smiled, showing the sneer, and her eyes were chal enging. "Did you, now?"

"So it does have a price," I said.

"Which I'm prepared to pay." She looked at Quinn. "I have a way of getting what I want."

"I'l bet you do," I said.

"Maybe we ought to take that tour, Nic." Quinn made a cut-it-off sign in my direction. "Let everybody cool off a bit. Come on. The Gator's out by the barn. Let's go."

He tugged on her hand, pul ing her toward the door. Before they left he turned around and stared hard at me. I shook my head and it seemed to seal things between us--Nicole and I had drawn battle lines and he didn't like it.

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